THE STORY OF NOTTINGHAM

[This essay was written in about 2000 and most of the links to other sites no longer work; they will be replaced with new ones later]

Nottingham is a city in the Midlands (the central area of England), about 120 miles north of London and with a population of around 300,000. There are pictures of the Market Square and the Council House in the center of the city below and at:

http://www.britannia.com/tours/rhood/nottingham.htmlOur family lived in a suburb called Sherwood two and a half miles further north (see aerial photo below) but I went to a secondary school on the bank of the River Trent a couple of miles south of the centre. I had to take two buses to get to school and I caught the second one in the Market Square, just to the right of where the pictures were taken.

Nottingham's original name was `Snotengaham', which means in old English `the settlement of Snot's people'. Snot and his followers perhaps founded a village there in around 600 A.D. Before this time the Trent had probably formed the boundary between lands conquered by the English, who had recently arrived in Britain from mainland Europe, and the original Celtic inhabitants, who remained independent in the north and west of the island. Possibly Snot's people lived for some time on the south bank of the Trent and crossed over when Celtic power was weakening. The site of their new home was attractive because it was on the top of a sandstone cliff near the first point where the Trent was shallow enough to be forded. It was easy to tunnel into the

​sandstone and for many centuries some of the inhabitants made caves to use as houses and as workshops. You can read about these caves and see pictures of them at: http://www.nottinghamhistory.co.uk/local/caves.htmA 9th. century writer says that Nottingham's name in Welsh was `Tig Guocobauc' (`House of Caves'). Welsh is just a later form of the old British Celtic language (do you remember reading about that in `English and Other Languages'?) so perhaps Nottingham had that name before Snot's time. In any case, the Celts (and even earlier peoples) must have made homes in the cliffs just as the English did.

The first precisely dated event in Nottingham's history was its capture by Danish invaders in 868 (see the text on pg.8). Some of the streets around the Market Square still have `gate' (the Danish word for `street') in their names but the town was soon back under English control. One of the English kings then built a bridge over the River Trent on the main route south from the town. There is still a bridge in the same place, very close to Nottingham Forest's football ground. After the French-speaking Normans conquered England in the 11th century they built a castle to the west of the English-settlement (see the picture of the old castle on pg. 6 below and a photo of the present-day castle, which was built in the 17th. Century, on pg. 9 or at http://www.theguide-uk.com/nottingham/ ). Next to the castle there is still a pub called `The Olde Trip to Jerusalem', whose oldest part was carved out of the hill in 1189 (picture below from: http://www.geocities.com/puckrobin/rh/robpics.html )​

The Norman and English towns had separate local governments until about 1300 but their inhabitants came together to buy and sell in the area which is now Market Square. It was probably the Normans who changed the name from `Snotingham’ to `Nottingham’ since the combination `sn’ is difficult for speakers of French to pronounce. The change was a lucky one for all the people of the town because in modern English slang the word `snot’ means secretions from inside the nose!

​To the north of the town Sherwood Forest was kept in the medieval period as a special hunting area for the king but it

was also a convenient hiding place for outlaws. There are many legends about one outlaw called Robin Hood, who protected the ordinary people against the cruelty of corrupt officials. The legends are probably not true but Robin is still treated as a local hero. You can find extensive information about him at: https://www.boldoutlaw.com/index.html

The castle is at the bottom left-hand corner and St.Mary’s Church (labeled A), which was built at the centre of the old English settlement, is just to the right of the centre of the map. See below for a picture of St Mary’s today(http://www.geocities.com/puckrobin/rh/robpics.html)

When the map was made, most of the area of present-day Nottingham was still countryside and my own home district was either still part of Sherwood Forest or was farmland. Thirty years later, in 1642, the English Civil War started at Nottingham when King Charles I raised his flag just outside the townand called for men to join him in fighting against parliament. Parliament’s army captured the town shortly afterwards and later pulled down the medieval castle (picture below). The Duke of Newcastle then built another castle on the site. This was just as a home for himself and not for military purpose.

After the Industrial Revolution, Nottingham expanded rapidly during the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1831 many citizens were angry that parliament had rejected a proposal to allow more people to vote in elections so they burned down the castle. It was finally restored and opened as a museum and art gallery in 1875. In 1897, six years before my father was born, Nottingham officially became a city instead of a town. The River Trent, which used to flood its banks frequently, was controlled with embankments, in the same way as has been done with the Shing Mun River in Shatin. By now the town had become famous for lacework and later for various kinds of light industry. The best-known companies were Raleigh's, Player's and Boot's, manufacturing bicycles, cigarettes and medicines respectively. My grandfather on my father's side was the manager of a lace factory and until I was born my mother worked in Boot's department store, just to the east of the Market Square. The founder of Boot’s, Jesse Boot, gave money in the 1920s for the development of Nottingham University, where many students from Hong Kong have studied in recent years.

Nottingham was also an important centre for coal mining, although many of the mines have now closed down. D.H.Lawrence, one of the most famous English writers of the 20th century, was the son of a coalminer and grew up in a mining village just north of Nottingham. One of his novels, Sons and Lovers, is based on his own experiences as a young man and gives a glimpse of life in Nottingham one hundred years ago. Here is an extract describing a walk the hero of the novel took with his girlfriend:

​ ​The big bluff of the Castle rock was streaked with rain, as it reared above the flat of the town. They crossed the wide, black space of the Midland Railway, and passed the cattle enclosure that stood out white. Then they ran down sordid Wilford Road.

She rocked slightly to the tram's motion, and as she leaned against him, rocked upon him. He was a vigorous, slender man, with exhaustless energy. His face was rough, with rough-hewn features, like the common people's; but his eyes ​ under the deep brows were so full of life that they fascinated her. They seemed to dance, and yet they were still trembling on the finest balance of laughter. His mouth the same was just going to spring into a laugh of triumph, yet did not. There was a sharp suspense about him. She bit her lip moodily. His hand was hard clenched over hers.

They paid their two halfpennies at the turnstile and crossed the bridge. The Trent was very full. It swept silent and insidious under the bridge, travelling in a soft body. There had been a great deal of rain. On the river levels were flat gleams of flood water. The sky was grey, with glisten of silver here and there. In Wilford churchyard the dahlias were sodden with rain -- wet black-crimson balls. No one was on the path that went along the green river meadow, along the elm-tree colonnade.

There was the faintest haze over the silvery-dark water and the green meadow-bank, and the elm-trees that were spangled with gold. The river slid by in a body, utterly silent and swift, intertwining among itself like some subtle, complex creature.

​​Nottingham's other famous writer is the poet Lord Byron, who was born at Newstead Abbey in Sherwood Forest in 1788. Although he belonged to a wealthy, aristocratic family, he supported democratic and revolutionary ideas and he died at the age of 36, helping the Greeks fight for independence from Turkey. This is one of his best known poems, `She Walks in Beauty' :​

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that 's best of dark and brightMeet in her aspect and her eyes:Thus mellow'd to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.One shade the more, one ray the less,Had half impair'd the nameless graceWhich waves in every raven tress,Or softly lightens o'er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet expressHow pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent,A mind at peace with all below,A heart whose love is innocent!​

I must admit that Nottingham is not one of places you should visit first in Britain, but, if you have a lot of time to spend in the country, there are some things worth seeing. You can look round the castle, which is now an art museum, see the `Tales of Robin Hood’ exhibition and also go down one of the caves which has been turned into an exhibition on Nottingham's history. You can also combine a visit to Newstead Abbey with a walk in Sherwood Forest to the hollow oak tree which people say Robin Hood and his gang used as their storeroom. You can see a picture below (from http://www.geocities.com/puckrobin/rh/robpics.html )If you just want to explore Nottingham from Hong Kong, there are lots more interesting photos of the old city on the site: http://www.nottinghamhistory.co.uk/nafs/nafs.htm

(868 In that year the same[i.eDanish] army went to Snotengaham [i.e. Nottingham] in Mercia [a kingdom in central England] and took up winter quarters there. King Burgred, of Mercia and his council asked Ethered, king of Wessex [the southern English kingdom] and his brother Alfredto help them fight against that army. They entered Mercia with the forces of Wessex and came to Snotengaham where they found the Danes inside the fortress. There was no serious fighting and the Mercians made peace with the invaders.)

A slightly fuller account of the same incident is provided in the `Life of King Alfred' probably written a few years later by Asser, a Welsh bishop who was one of Alfred's circle. Here is the original Latin text:

(In the same year the Viking army left Northumbria (868), came to Mercia and reached Nottingham (which is called Tig Guocobauc in British [Welsh], or Speluncarum Domus [house of caves] in Latin), and they spent the winter that year in the same place. Immediately upon their arrival there, Burgred, King of the Mercians, and all the leading men of that people sent messages to Æthelred, King of the West Saxons, and to his brother Alfred, humbly requesting that they help them, so that they would be able to fight against the Viking army; they obtained this easily. For the brothers, promptly fulfilling their promise, gathered an immense army from every part of their kingdom, went to Mercia and arrived at Nottingham, single-mindely seeking battle. But since the Vikings, protected by the defences of the stronghold, refused to give battle, and since the Christians were unable to breach the wall, peace was established between the Mercians and the Vikings, and the two brothers, Æthelred and Alfred, returned home with their forces)

View of Nottingham Castle with St Nicholas' Church and Houses by Paul Sandby, probably as seen from Stanford House, Castle Gate, about 1742–1750. The River Leen can be seen flowing beneath the Castle Rock. from https://www.facebook.com/nottinghamhiddenhistoryteam/?tn-str=k*F , which features a a large collection of historic paintings and photographs.

Nottingham and surrounding area in 1836, painted by T.Allom and W.Watkins. Nottingham Castle and the tower of St Mary’s Church can be seen on the hills in the distance, in line with the windmill on the nearby ridge and overlooking the plain stretching down to the Trent. This flat land is now all built-up but part of it is still called `The Meadows’. Perhaps the painters were a little inaccurate or the river has shifted its course, because there is now some flat ground between the river and the hills on the left of the picture. This is where my old secondary school is situated.http://www.oldprints.co.uk/prints/notts/90761.htm​